Tuesday's National Night Out includes many Long Beach area events

LONG BEACH - Want to dunk a cop, join a community march, hang out at a park, listen to music, meet friends and neighbors, and maybe have a cookout?

These are among a bevy of events in and around the Long Beach area on tap for the annual National Night Out crime-fighting event.

Held on the first Tuesday of August, National Night Out is recognized in more than 10,000 communities and is meant to highlight the importance of Neighborhood Watch and other crime prevention programs and efforts.

This year, eight cities surrounding Long Beach are having formal community events staged in conjunction with their police or sheriff's stations.

Long Beach discontinued its Crime Prevention and Safety Fair after 2008, but there are still some smaller neighborhood celebrations throughout the town that police plan to attend.

West Division Cmdr. Josef Levy and his staff will be out visiting community members at the fifth annual potluck staged by the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance, at the pocket park at 900 W. 21st St., where residents are invited to bring dishes to share, and free games and hot dogs will be available for kids. The event will include free fingerprinting kits and meeting police staff, such as the K-9 Unit.

Meanwhile, in the Central Area, resident Stella Davis is inviting neighbors to her backyard at 1143 E. Salt Lake St., where she will cook up a feast that includes spaghetti, hot dogs and her famous peach cobbler.

Outside of Long Beach, a number of towns are staging bigger events. At Signal Hill there will be a celebration in the park that includes the always popular dunk tank, in which residents can literally prove, in some cases, that the police are all wet.

In Cerritos, the Night Out event will coincide with a concert in the park, and La Mirada will do the same, albeit on Thursday.

In Bellflower, city, community and public safety leaders will travel via firetruck, radio car and city vehicles to a number of scheduled block parties where they will pass out gifts and literature on crime prevention and safety.

In Hawaiian Gardens, the annual Peace March has become a popular event and concludes with free food, music and kids' activities, including a bike rodeo.

At Seal Beach, the entire community is invited down to the pier to meet police, fire and other officials and network with neighbors.

Whether events are big or small, they all promote positive interactions that are especially important in an era of rising crime and declining budgets for public safety.

As Levy puts it: "It's always been important for our police and community to connect. It's even more important in these times for the community and police to come together and become engaged."